Result: Durham 2nd XI (296/7; S Steel 87*, Bell 59; Bess 2/65) beat Somerset 2nd XI (295; Lammonby 85, Wells 52; Coughlin 4/63, Rimmington 4/43) by 3 wickets
Durham’s 2nd XI have reached the Second XI Trophy final after Scott Steel’s unbeaten 87 guided them to a three-wicket win over Somerset at Taunton Vale.
Chasing 296 for victory, Steel’s knock from number four steered Durham home with two-and-a-half overs to go.
He shared a crucial middle order partnership with Sol Bell, the pair putting on 103 for the fourth wicket, before contributions from Stuart Poynter (30) & Nathan Rimmington (28 not out) provided the support required to get home.
Durham will face Kent in the final, slated for next Thursday (27 June), after they defeated Yorkshire at Scarborough. A venue will be confirmed in due course.
After finishing second in the North Group, Alan Walker’s men faced a trip to last year’s finalists & enjoyed early success through Josh Coughlin after being asked to bowl first.
The hosts slipped from 89/1 to 144/6, with Rimmington the chief protagonist in claiming three middle-order wickets.
And so Durham will have been disappointed to see the hosts all out for 295 off the final ball of the innings, with Tom Lammonby scoring 85 in a 121-run stand with Lewis Goldsworthy.
Coughlin returned to take the last two wickets in the final over, making it four in the match.
Durham made a decent start to the reply as Graham Clark struck 38 & Michael Richardson, fresh from international duty with Germany, put on 52 with the opener.
But both fell within four balls to leave the visitors in need of a solid partnership to drag things back their way.
They got it through Steel & Bell before the latter was bowled one shy of a half-century.
Wicketkeeper Poynter added 30 from just 24 balls to help lower the required rate, which hovered around seven runs-per-over until Rimmington entered the crease with 38 still required.
The all-rounder has enjoyed good form with the bat recently & calmly edged Durham closer, striking five boundaries to see it home alongside Steel.